Beyond stereotypes: Rupert Grey’s ‘Homage to Bangladesh’

Rupert Grey, a descendant of Charles Grey and best known professionally as a leading libel and copyright lawyer stood against this statement. “If Bangladesh is a basket case,” Grey tells The Daily Star, “then it is so in the best possible way.” For him, the term collapses under the sheer vitality of the country. A single square metre of a Bangladeshi street, he argues, holds more energy than entire neighbourhoods in London. Where life in England often unfolds in rigid routines, Bangladesh thrives in spontaneity—where a hanging lighter at a tea stall can become a moment of shared choreography.
25 January 2026, 12:24 PM Books & Literature
FLASH FICTION / The rickshaw artist
24 January 2026, 01:52 AM Books & Literature
FLASH FICTION / Pirouette of a phoenix
24 January 2026, 01:48 AM Books & Literature
POETRY / Memories
24 January 2026, 01:36 AM Books & Literature

EDITORIAL / Why read?
22 January 2026, 00:00 AM Books & Literature
THE SHELF / 7 new books to look out for in 2026
22 January 2026, 00:00 AM Books & Literature

INTERVIEW / Reclaiming the unwritten: Kanika Gupta on colonialism, embodiment, and the art of remembering

Gupta shares her insights on reclaiming forgotten histories, reimagining myths, and connecting ancient narratives to contemporary ecological and social concerns.
22 November 2025, 11:51 AM Books & Literature
EVENT REPORT / An eco-critical look at Sultan: Reading the manuscript of ‘Sultan Er Krishi Jiggasha’
With the aid of Duniyadari Archive, Pavel Partha’s soon-to-be-published book Sultan Er Krishi Jiggasha is a new addition, which looks at Sultan’s work from an eco-critical perspective.
8 November 2025, 11:43 AM Books & Literature
NEWS REPORT / “Curious love letter”: Wole Soyinka responds after US cancels visa
He responded to the situation with grace, mentioning “I like people who have a sense of humour".
30 October 2025, 10:45 AM Books & Literature

Naeem Mohaiemen discusses ‘Midnight’s Third Child’ at ULAB and Bengal Institute

Naeem Mohaiemen called the book and its selections, which comprise fairly short essays and editorials on contemporary matters, “an argument for somehow recording all that seems ephemeral, so we can then look back and trace what was happening.”
26 May 2023, 00:00 AM

Anuradha Roy's book of longing and belonging

In Hindu mythology, the figure of the flaming, underwater horse has been repeatedly used to represent balance and harmony—a state in which both the elements of fire and water can coexist.
25 May 2023, 01:27 AM

‘Women, Gender and Development': Rocky ride along the evolutionary scale

Nazmunnessa Mahtab has written a quite all-encompassing book on women and gender issues.    
25 May 2023, 00:00 AM

On weaving family, culture and place into a compelling story

Nilopar Uddin's debut novel, 'The Halfways' (HQ, 2022) takes place across London, Wales, New York, and Sylhet, and focuses on the Bangladeshi immigrant experience
25 May 2023, 00:00 AM

Reading ‘memory’ with Sehri Tales and Sister Library

The event, themed ‘Memory,’ took place on Sunday, May 21 at Dhanmondi’s DrikPath Bhaban, supported by Goethe-Institut Bangladesh and HerStory Foundation
24 May 2023, 10:42 AM

‘Time Shelter’ the first Bulgarian novel to win International Booker Prize

"The book is a profound work that deals with a very contemporary question: What happens to us when our memories disappear?", said judge Leila Slimani.
24 May 2023, 07:50 AM

Tidings of time

The eternal question could well be about what each generation passes on to the next and if the older one is at fault or the succeeding one is responsible for the outcome of its input.
22 May 2023, 15:00 PM

“It’s nice to be back—as opposed to not being back, which was also a possibility”: Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s surprise appearance was the highlight of an eventful month for PEN, the literary and free expression organisation that has been in the middle—by choice and otherwise—of various conflicts.
22 May 2023, 13:00 PM

Ruskin Bond, 89, is still writing

The good old man of letters is much loved by his young and old readers. They sometimes post letters to him. He replies to some. In the end, he wants his readers to look at the brighter side of life.
21 May 2023, 13:00 PM

A new digital font brings back the letterpress typeface of old Bangla books

The font can be installed on and used with Kindle without breaking juktakkhor apart.
21 May 2023, 09:36 AM

Grief is something pure and stark in Han Kang’s ‘The White Book’

Han Kang explores the nature of her existence and it is all portrayed through objects and ideas unified by a single color: white. 
19 May 2023, 04:00 AM

Sehri Tales in person—with Sister Library this time

An evening storytelling and writing around the "chimera that is memory", organized by Sister Library and Sehri Tales.
18 May 2023, 11:07 AM

Where to start reading Samaresh Majumdar

Dipabali’s character in Satkahon said aloud what was on every girl’s mind.
18 May 2023, 08:03 AM

When the message of Bangladesh’s liberation travelled on two wheels

Jamal Hasan and his three teammates decided to go on a goodwill mission for the fledgling state to thank the people of the world for supporting their Liberation War.
18 May 2023, 07:46 AM

Flesh in ruins

It is the disease that maintains the upper hand in the plot. A jarring voice of its own, the toxins spilling across the pages in bold, chaotic words.
18 May 2023, 07:33 AM

5 books exploring the found-family trope in fiction

A cast of strangers come together as a family based on their common experiences, situations, and relationships rather than their kinship or blood relations.
17 May 2023, 12:55 PM

Bigolas Dickolas and the power of a heartfelt ‘Read this NOW’

One random tweet by a fan account has sent a 2019 book flying off the shelves, climbing bestseller charts.
16 May 2023, 12:55 PM

Motherhood, martyrdom and the spirit of female resistance in 1971

Ekattorer Dinguli forces one to acknowledge the dire reality of ethnic and religious violence, and the harsh legacy of colonial oppression and divide that has ruptured the fabric of the South Asian subcontinent since 1947.
15 May 2023, 12:56 PM

A glimpse of the Istanbul we don’t know

Here was a woman who was but a dot amidst the throngs of people who watched the Bosphorus Bridge being opened in October 1973, as fireworks erupted over a Turkey that now seamed Asia to Europe.
15 May 2023, 08:55 AM

On mothers and reading

I wonder at how these frugal, accessible pleasures define her daily existence and get elated with the fact that reading takes up a significant space on the shelf
14 May 2023, 12:55 PM